This recipe has been in development for more than three years. Our son Nicholas first suggested it as part of a dish he wanted to serve in his pretend restaurant, The Purple Tulip. It turned out very well that first time, but we had to make it several more times to be certain of the … Continue reading Baked Tofu at The Purple Tulip
quick meals
Two Affordable GMO-Free Cereals
I don't trust genetically modified food to be safe for our health or environment. About five years ago, I realized that several of our favorite breakfast cereals contained corn, and I'd been reading that most corn grown in the United States that isn't organically grown is now GMO. We gave up buying those cereals routinely...but … Continue reading Two Affordable GMO-Free Cereals
Flexican Cornbread Pizza
This recipe has a history. It started with my mom's trusty recipe for Mexican Pizza. Then came my serendipitous discoveries that (a) it can be adapted to a non-Mexican-flavored version, which my family loves just as much as the Mexican version, and (b) it can be baked in a toaster-oven. More than a year ago, … Continue reading Flexican Cornbread Pizza
DIY Instant Oatmeal: Ditch the Packets!
I love oatmeal. It's nutritious, with plenty of fiber and minerals and Vitamin B1, and has many health benefits. It's filling. It can be seasoned any way you like. Quick-cooking oats are really easy to make--I don't even bother cooking them in a pot, just mix them with boiling water in a bowl--and very low-priced, … Continue reading DIY Instant Oatmeal: Ditch the Packets!
Knock Out a Cold Quickly and Naturally!
Last Wednesday, I felt like I was coming down with a cold: runny nose, itchy throat, ominous heavy feeling in the middle of my head. The typical cold lasts 7-10 days. Bummer. Today is Tuesday. I'm still having an episode of sneezing and nose-blowing every few hours, but otherwise I feel great! I've been feeling … Continue reading Knock Out a Cold Quickly and Naturally!
Green Ribbon Lentils
Almost two years ago, I saw this recipe for Garlicky Lentils and Tomatoes, which is very flexible. We have tried it several different ways, and this variation has become a favorite. This recipe is easy, cheap, and pretty quick! It is vegan and gluten-free. It has lots of fiber, vitamins, protein, and iron. It can … Continue reading Green Ribbon Lentils
Bean Wraps with Smoked Gouda and Pineapple
UPDATE: Eight months later, I'm sharing this recipe at Meatless Monday. It's a great quick meal at any time of year because all the ingredients are shelf-stable except for the cheese and wrapper; it doesn't use fresh foods that are in season at a particular time of year--unless you live in pineapple country! Don't eat … Continue reading Bean Wraps with Smoked Gouda and Pineapple
Lemon Creamy Salmon with Tangy Greens
This is a meal my family has enjoyed repeatedly since it was inspired by a chicken recipe more than two years ago. We rarely eat chicken and never cook it at home, so we've always made this with canned wild Alaskan salmon. I've now made enough changes to the original recipe that I feel this … Continue reading Lemon Creamy Salmon with Tangy Greens
My Top 3 Kitchen Time-Saving Tips
Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is asking everyone to share our top 3 kitchen time-savers this week! I work full-time outside the home, and although my partner Daniel has been doing more than half the cooking in the past few years, I do most of the planning, shopping, and preliminary preparations. He works from home and … Continue reading My Top 3 Kitchen Time-Saving Tips
Easy Fresh Apple Yogurt
I'm finally beginning to feel a lot better and get back into being able to think about food! I've actually cooked several meals from scratch, without collapsing, in the last couple of weeks. One of the oddities of this pregnancy is that I'm sometimes having a hard time with raw apples: Either they give me … Continue reading Easy Fresh Apple Yogurt
Fast, Frugal, Fruit-Flavored Oatmeal (or, how to use up the jam stuck to the jar)
When a jar of jam is depleted to the point that it's difficult to gather up enough jam for a sandwich or a slice of toast, it's tempting to just chuck it. If you're going to recycle or reuse that jar, though, you need to remove every bit of jam...and if you're removing it, you … Continue reading Fast, Frugal, Fruit-Flavored Oatmeal (or, how to use up the jam stuck to the jar)
Emergency Creamy Tomato Soup (healthier!)
Okay, it wasn't really an emergency. It was just that our eight-year-old Nicholas really wanted creamy tomato soup for dinner when both parents were recovering--more weakly than we'd hoped--from a stomach virus that the kid had several days earlier. Daniel and I both were very sick Monday, a little better Tuesday, and then I went … Continue reading Emergency Creamy Tomato Soup (healthier!)
Japanese Udon Noodle Soup
Happy New Year!! Somebody told me long ago that in some cultures it's traditional to eat "long noodles for long life" at the turn of the year. We all like noodles in our family, so we have taken up this tradition. This year and last I made Japanese Udon Noodle Soup for dinner on New … Continue reading Japanese Udon Noodle Soup
Pumpkin Burritos
It may seem somewhat obvious that, if you can make Butternut Squash Burritos from the same recipe as Sweet Potato Burritos, you could also make Pumpkin Burritos. But if you're among the many people desperately searching the Internet this month for new and different ways to serve the remains of your jack o'lantern, it might … Continue reading Pumpkin Burritos
Summer Vegetable Sunflower Blop
Sometimes I have trouble thinking of a good name for a recipe, especially when it's something I have been making for myself without talking to anybody about it, because in my mind it can be called "kind of like what I made the other day" or "mmmmm" or "RY3A0128" or whatever. The name for today's … Continue reading Summer Vegetable Sunflower Blop
7 Delicious Meatless Recipes from Other Sites
We enjoy plenty of our own recipes, but I also have fun browsing recipes online and copying down recipes we might like. Here are 7 that have earned pages in our recipe binder. If you are vegetarian or vegan or have given up meat for Lent or are observing Meatless Mondays or meatless Lenten Fridays, … Continue reading 7 Delicious Meatless Recipes from Other Sites
Butternut Squash Burritos
UPDATE: I'm linking this to Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, which is hosted at a gluten-free site. You could make this recipe gluten-free by using any type of gluten-free tortilla or wrap, by putting the filling over rice or quinoa in a bowl, or by being super-nutritious and wrapping the filling in big leaves of … Continue reading Butternut Squash Burritos
Instant hummus and falafels!
My mostly-vegetarian family likes to eat hummus (garbanzo bean and sesame seed dip) and falafels (garbanzo bean and pea fritters) but both of these foods take a while to make from scratch. Practically every grocery store sells ready-to-serve hummus these days, but it is pricey and gets moldy quickly. A few stores and restaurants sell … Continue reading Instant hummus and falafels!
Masoor Dal (Indian Lentils) with Carrots
This started with a recipe I found online, but we've made some adjustments. The most interesting (though not authentically Indian) one is adding carrots, which turns this from just a high-protein main dish into a full meal. It's easy and pretty quick to make. It's vegetarian and can be made vegan, it's gluten-free and nut-free, … Continue reading Masoor Dal (Indian Lentils) with Carrots
How to use old tofu and turn ramen noodles into a full meal!
The trouble with tofu is, if you don't use the whole block in one meal, you're supposed to store it in a container of water and change the water every day. That is pretty annoying! It's easy to forget it for a couple of days. Then, when you remember, it doesn't smell so good. I … Continue reading How to use old tofu and turn ramen noodles into a full meal!
The Earthling's Handbook 